🐺 Build the friends first

Justin’s Hot Dog Party with a bunch of new friends.

Online searches for "how to meet people," "where to make friends," and "feeling lonely" are climbing like crazy right now. Business builder Greg Isenberg shared his findings in this LinkedIn post.

But in San Diego, we have more events than ever. Which feels like a good thing. We need more places to gather, especially if they’re centered around common interests like startups, technology or building companies.

The challenge is that most of us head to events looking for something specific. Sometimes it’s a customer, or maybe it’s a co-founder.

This approach leads us to skip the step where we figure out if we actually like the person in front of us.

The risk is to discount them as the exact match for what we’re looking for. I’ve been discounted many times before, without them realizing I did know the person they needed to talk to.

I’d wonder what would happen if we went to events looking for friends.

The best relationships I have in this city didn't start with a business need. They started with someone I thought was interesting. And then they developed into a partnership later.

As we got to know each other, what we needed help with naturally comes up, and we have a stronger desire to help our friends.

Many of us are building companies, careers, and futures here in San Diego. But we can absolutely build a huge network of friends along the way.

Honestly, I'd argue we should build the friends first.

Where will we see you in the wild this week?

What we’re howling about this week:

Monday, August 3

($) StartupSD 1st Mondays Networking & Startup Event at 5:30 PM - UCSD … code: coyote30

Tuesday, August 4

($) San Diego AI Showcase #7 at 6:00 PM - Vista

Thursday, August 6

San Diego | Claude Impact Lab at 6:00 PM - La Jolla (register for exact location)
Paper Club # 4 - World Models at 7:00 PM - Carmel Valley

Friday, August 7

Founder Fridays at 7:30 AM - Solana Beach

Join us, Super Coyote

A unicorn is a startup worth a billion dollars or a person who grew up in San Diego.

31 members. 18 different hometowns. Christchurch, Queens, Mexicali, Barstow, and one guy who arrived by Navy submarine in 1985 and never left.

Plenty of us got here, put our heads down, and forgot to look up.

I like how V2 phrased it: Engineers like me are introverts by design. Being a lone wolf genius never gets you as far as being part of a coyote pack.

If you're building something in San Diego and haven't found your people, apply to join the pack.

Super Coyote